Stretch Your Bones
by ComradeDelta
Summary: Let's just say life get's more complicated when you lose everything but your Skeleton. Rated M for Gore and Violence.
1. Chapter 1

Interesting objects the Deathly Hallows are, it was said they granted the user eternal life, it granted them the status of Master of Death, but Harry knew that Immortality came at a horrible price, and most of the time, wasn't truly Eternal Life.

The Hallows came to him. He'd reach down for his phoenix wand and find the rough wood of the Elder Wand in his grip. He woke up with the Stone present on his wedding ring one day and had to glamour it so Ginny wouldn't know. He'd go for naps on his couch and had woken up to find the Invisibility Cloak covering him.

He was freaked out, for sure, but didn't think much of it. It wasn't anything too concerning, after all.

But then something happened to Harry that truly made him frightened. He began to not feel hunger. When Ginny had been off at a Quidditch Championship, and the work at the Ministry had been heavy, he hadn't been thinking much of dinner.

It was days afterwards when he realized he hadn't eaten a single crumb of food for the entire week and hadn't even felt his stomach rumble, that Harry realized something was up.

Still, he could do nothing and tried to push it to the back of his mind in the meantime.

((~))

Ginny lay beside him, gently snoring. He yawned and stood up to get ready for work. The morning light streamed in through a crack in their curtains, and Harry reached for the dresser for his clothes.

Suddenly, as he reached out, he felt a sudden overwhelming _itching_ sensation, everywhere on his skin, he groaned and fell backwards onto his arse.

Glancing down at his skin, which had already begun turning a deep red, Harry's form shuddered for a moment, feeling as if the flesh was being scraped from his bone with hundreds of forks.

Ginny sat up from her sleep, rubbing her eyes. He was moaning loudly now and curled up on his side. She rolled over, and upon seeing him, jolted fully awake, and raced over to his side.

"Harry!? What's wrong?" She insistently shook his shoulder, and he groaned, the pain roiling all over him.

Suddenly, it felt as though a bubble had burst inside him, and for a moment the pain reached it's highest point yet. His senses were muted for a second, where silence and darkness prevailed.

His hearing returned, and all Harry could hear was screaming. He cracked open his eyes and was immediately assaulted by all the blood. He brought his hand to his head and stared in pain-induced confusion at the flesh-less limb.

He looked upwards to a Ginny who was backed up against the wall, her face contorted into fear and horror. He stood slowly, his bones clacking against the wooden flooring.

Anything inside his rib cage fell out then, the lungs and heart squelching when they hit the floor, splashing blood. Ginny was shaking madly, staring as blood ran down his white bones.

She wasn't the only one afraid. He trembled, staring down at his body, which could only be held together by magic. He stared down, horrified, at what was left of his body.

Thinking fast, he grabbed his wand from the dresser and sent a stunning spell, and an Obliviate at Ginny. As much as he loved her, she was not able to keep secrets very well, and Harry wasn't even going to contemplate what the Witches and Wizards of Britain would do to him.

He vanished the mountains of gore that littered the room. He must have exploded violently by the way it was strewn about. Not an inch of organic material covered his bones, only blood ran down his white skeleton.

Taking a second to gather himself as much as he could in a situation like this, he brushed the mahogany wood of the dresser and was surprised by the sensation of touch. He had not a single nerve ending on his body, yet still could feel.

Coming back to reality, he stared forlornly at Ginny. He couldn't take her with him, and he couldn't stay here with her. He had to leave, preferably as soon as possible.

((~))

He left the house, a heavy winter cloak over him, and gloves hiding his thin bones. He grasped the Elder Wand delicately in his hand and cast an illusion spell to darken his hood, obscuring his skull from anyone who tried to see underneath the hood.

He'd tried to cast a spell earlier with his Holly wand, only for the wand to spark and sputter within his grip, and decay into a rotted piece of wood. He resigned himself to using the Elder Wand.

He'd peered in the mirror a few minutes prior and discovered his eyes to be two dimly pulsing orbs of purple-black within the eye sockets of his skull. It made Harry terrified. It seemed that even among wizards, he would always be a freak.

He twisted in his steps and was squeezed into the tight sensation of apparating.

Arriving in Diagon Alley, he walked quickly towards Knockturn, many eyes turning suspiciously on him, clothed as he was. Knockturn Alley held the same pungent smell it'd had for years, as well as the hurried steps of wizards off to businesses quite foul.

In his work as an Auror, he'd been in the Alley many times, and quickly found his way to a popular Tavern of the Alley. The Creeping Shadow was a place well known throughout the Auror Forces, mostly for being the place where many a human mage had gone in before disappearing forever.

A bold-lettered sign was nailed beside the door, proudly proclaiming 'NON-HUMAN ONLY AREA, ANY MAGE WHO COMES IN DOES SO AT THEIR OWN RISK!'.

Harry wasn't quite sure he qualified as human anymore, and grasped the knocker on the door with his gloved hand, and have it a good whack. A slit opened in the wood, and a pair of violet eyes peered down at him before the slit was shut again, and the door opened.

A female form dressed in rune-covered battle armour stood beside the door, and Harry recognized the violet eyes. She peered down at him, curious.

"Well, What are you then? Mysterious vampire of the night? Better not be human, the last one got eaten for supper." She jeered at him. He sighed and dropped his hood.

"I don't quite think I'd be a tasty option on the menu, Miss." He stated dryly.

A soft gasp escaped her, and she stared down at him, her curiosity intensifying. He looked back up at her, wait for her to move so he could enter. She stood still for a couple seconds longer, before he walked up, and shoved her aside.

He headed in the direction of a booth, and the woman, who he assumed to be a bouncer of sorts, followed in his direction, sitting gracefully across from him when he plopped down into the torn leather seat.

"Isn't common for a 'Skele to be 'round these parts, last one we got was... hmm, 1856? Something like that." She stated. He ignored her momentarily, taking off his gloves, and grasping a menu delicately.

" _...intestines...raw heart...liver...pig brain..."_ He mumbled as he scanned the menu, looking for a more 'human' oriented meal.

"Methinks you'll be wanting one of the human ones, they're on the last page." The woman stated, popping a piece of gum into her mouth. He inclined his head and decided on the Prime Rib.

A waiter finally came over and eyed him and the bouncer curiously. Harry believed she was an Arachnidicova, a subset of the Fae species, judging by the enormous spider resting on her shoulder, and webbing lining her hair.

"Human Tea and the Prime Rib, please." He stated. The bouncer nodded at the waiter, seeming to communicate something unheard.

"Gotcha, You want em' raw or cooked?" She asked, muggle pen scribbling across a paper notebook.

"Cooked, thank you," he replied. The waiter bustled off, and he turned back towards the bouncer, who was still staring at him.

"So, how recently did you explode?" She asked. He stared at her confused, before grasping what she meant.

"...A-ah, well, um, just about an hour ago, actually." He said. Perhaps this wasn't the best person to talk to about his _situation._

Her mouth formed a small 'oh', and her eyes sparkled. She chuckled and held out her hand.

"Oh, almost forgot, Me name's Marigold, Welcome to the 'Shadow. We don't get many newbies around here anymore." She offered a hand, and he shook it, his bones clattering slightly.

"You think you can tell me what's going on?" He asked. he'd woken up and rather violently turned into a skeleton, he wanted answers.

"Sure... well, it'll cost ya, though." She grinned at him, flashing two rows of spiky, shark-like teeth. He sighed, of course, there was a price.

"Fine, what do you want?" He asked grouchily.

"That's the spirit! Don't worry, it's nothing much, just a few weeks of work, here, at the 'Shadow." She flashed her shark-teeth at him, violet eyes shining. He sighed but supposed it wasn't too much to ask.

"Alright." Damn, yesterday he was an Auror, and then here he was going to work in a bar filled with creatures, as well as many illegal activities.

A platter of fish arrived at the table, which Marigold greedily dragged towards herself, and began digging into.

She paused a moment, looking back up.

"Well, the first thing you ought to know about 'Skeles, is that you don't _need_ sustenance, but you'll feel damn well better if you do consume something every little once in a while. You're lucky, as well, you can eat just about anything out there." She chomped into a fish's head, eating the bones as well as the flesh.

He nodded, watching curiously as she slurped down what seemed to be noodles made from octopuses.

"Now, your folk form when a mage, your prior self, is surrounded by death magic for too long, usually, Mages can withstand up to twenty years of exposure." She paused, staring up meaningfully at him from her hunched position above her plate, "Which makes your species a rarity." She finished, wiping her mouth.

The waiter came over and plopped a platter filled with ribs down in front of him. He looked down at the meat and felt a curious clenching of a non-existent stomach.

"You'll want to be eating the bones of that, a good source of Calcium," Marigold suggested, slurping down a long Octopus noodle.

He plucked a rib from the plate and placed it inside his mouth. Oddly, it didn't fall out, even though he had no skin to keep it in. He swallowed, and the rib travelled down a non-existent throat. A slight grating noise emanated from his chest, almost as if his magic had consumed the entirety of the rib, which Harry supposed it had.

It was an odd sensation, but he continued eating nonetheless. Marigold smiled at him, which Harry found slightly disconcerting, even though she had been massively helpful so far.

We finished the food over a few more conversations before she led him to a room. Though The Creeping Shadow was a self-proclaimed 'bar', it was more of an Inn.

He retired there for the night, and though he couldn't sleep, he could slip into a meditative state, like with Occlumency. His situation wasn't too bad, he supposed, he just hoped it wouldn't become worse.

((~))

 **AN: Please share what you think! Reviewers get cookies!**


	2. Chapter 2

He was roused from his meditation from a knock at his door. The room they had given him was musty and dimly lit with candles. Harry supposed that was the atmosphere a lot of magical creatures enjoyed.

He stood up from the chair which he had meditated in, and his feet clacked loudly on the hardwood floor as he walked over to his robes and shoes. Slipping them on, he went over to his door and opened it cautiously.

Marigold leaned against the brick wall of the hallway, her foot tapping impatiently. She gestured for him to follow, walking off. He did, curious why she seemed upset.

"Now, you'll be working at the bar, a pretty simple job. Try not to piss off anyone important, last time that happened, well... there's a reason you're going to be the bartender." She stated, fists clenching slightly at her sides.

"Is everything alright?" Harry asked. Marigold turned to him, sighing. She laid a hand on his shoulder, and ushered him to the bar, not answering.

Early as it was, the tavern was mostly empty. A man sat at a booth, tearing into a slab of raw pork, he was most likely a Werewolf then, Harry wistfully remembered the time Remus had offered him a raw steak.

Marigold came around to where he was leaning on the wall behind the bar, holding an outfit. It was a pair of black pants, a white dress shirt, and a crimson red suit vest., with a deep purple bow tie strewn on top of the shirt. She withdrew her wand, and with a few waves, he was wearing the outfit, tied bow tie included.

"Better, now, when people order something at the bar, if it's food, you tell Bry here," She gestured to a small opening to a kitchen, where a jagged face peeked over, grinning at him with yellow canines. "What they want. If it's a drink, they're right here." She gestured to a shelve decoratively hanging behind the bar, bars labelled with names such as 'Verona's Viscous Chicken Blood' and 'Beaver's best Cranium Drink for Wraiths'.

He nodded, thanking her. She walked off in the direction of the door and leaned against the wall beside it. He laid his bones on the wood of the bar, observing the tavern curiously. It had low ceilings and was made mostly of wood. Runes littered the edges of almost every surface, some Harry suspected were for decor, and some for reinforcement.

"Hey! You-uh, Bones," the cook named Bry caught his attention, and he turned around. The man was leaning over the porthole, offering a wet rag towards him.

"Manager says cleaning time, your responsibility is the bar." Harry grabbed the rag. "And, care for a fag?" He offered a cigarette. Harry shrugged, _because why not_ , and grabbed the cigarette, lighting it with a wave of the Elder Wand.

He got to work on the counter, scrubbing away at stains. Though he would forever hate the Dursleys for making him their slave, when he cleaned on his own terms, he found it quite relaxing.

As time passed, a few more people entered the bar, some from the outside, some descending the rickety staircase to the bar. He'd gotten the bar down to a nice shine many minutes prior, and watched curious, as he dried the inside of a few glasses Bry had passed to him.

He puffed on his cigarette, which had a much better taste than a muggle one, and seemed to last _much_ longer. The Arachnidicova waiter, whose name Harry learned was Ireleith, bustled around, taking orders and bringing them to Bry's windowsill.

They all seemed content to refer to him as 'Bones', which Harry was alright with. A few of customers peered curiously at him, but he dismissed them. He was still coming to terms with being a sack of bones, permanently, after all.

A man plopped down on a chair in front of him. Small tree branches poked out of his skin, which had a wooden texture. He looked at wood parts of Tavern with a scowl on his face, which Harry, seeing as the man seemed to be a tree fae of some sort, could understand.

"Batheir's Maple Syrup, with a shot of Greg's Mushroom Spirits, please." the tree fae grouched at him. Harry brought down the two bottles, pour the Syrup into a pint, and tossing a good splash of Greg's in.

He slid the cocktail to fae, who nodded at him in thanks. A pair of Werewolves, who seemed to be twins, were hollering a drunken song at the opposite end of the bar, and Harry chuckled, it came out grated as all sounds did now.

Even if it was his first day, he found the job oddly enjoyable. There didn't seem to be as much trouble as he expected. He poured a drink for a woman with glowing red eyes and leaned non-nonchalantly against the wall.

((~))

It was around midnight now, judging from the clock on the wall. The Shadow was bustling with activity, and Harry watched the interactions between species, interested.

Marigold's shift had ended, and a new bouncer leaned beside the door. A man with the eyes of a lizard, and odd, slithering movements. Harry decided he liked Marigold much better, even with all the teeth.

He sipped at a glass of Brandy and puffed on a new cigarette. Bry seemed to have an endless supply of them and seemed quite willing to share.

Suddenly, a commotion stirred up by a booth. He scanned the area and caught on to what was happening. A woman bent over the neck of the tree fae from earlier. Harry turned his head sharply towards the bouncer, who seemed to be voluntarily looking the other way.

Watching as the vampire continued drinking greedily, and as the colour was slowly flushed from the tree fae's skin, Harry decided to make a decision, even if it might've not been the smartest one.

Walking around the bar, he roughly grabbed the scruff of the vampire's robes and hauled her up with all his strength. The vampire kicked, but he was six foot five, and she was only about 5 foot seven.

The vampire hissed angrily at him, and on a whim, he decided to retaliate with a hiss of his own. Opening his jaw, he hissed.

An ear-splitting shrieking noise came out instead, and Harry surprised himself. A glass on the counter cracked slightly, and everyone's attention became focused on the two. Dragging the still struggling vampire on the floor, he opened the wooden door to the tavern and tossed the vampire out.

She landed on her ass and scowled up at him. He slammed the door on her and made his way back to the bar. The occupants of the bar stared at him, and Ireleith was smirking slightly.

"Carry on." He gestured with his fleshless arm, and the noise slowly returned to its previous level. Though he may have been turned into a skeleton, he still thought like an Auror.

((~))

 **AN: Thanks for reviews and follows n' favs, have a cookie! (:~:)**


	3. Chapter 3

Marigold wasn't very happy with him, even though she agreed he had done the correct thing in that situation, death wasn't the best for business, after all. The tree fae ended up being alright, though if Harry hadn't intervened, it would've been a different story.

Over the next few days, things went rather smoothly. There were a few fights, but unlike the time with the vampire, the Reptilian bouncer, whose name he learned was Gexsh, intervened and did his job.

A soft rhythmic dinging roused him from his meditative state, which nowadays he was able to slip into almost instantly. He sat up and tapped the top of an alarm clock on his bedside table. Magical alarm clocks were able to ping someone's magic, and doing so resulted in the person waking up, quite useful.

He slipped into his work attire and headed downstairs. The wood of the tavern staircase creaked loudly as he traversed down them, and a few early risers looked up as he entered the main room.

Bry was leaning over the windowsill, smoking another cigarette. It seemed like he never quite stopped smoking, and Harry bet his lungs were in quite a poor condition.

He'd settled into a pretty simple routine, wake up, work the bar, go to sleep. Marigold had commented the other day that he must've lost his sense of time when he lost his flesh.

Well, maybe he had. Though he was quite skeptical of everything he had encountered so far, it wasn't like he could refuse the more diverse world of Magical Creatures, he couldn't damn well go back to how everything used to be, he was a damned Skeleton of all things, after all.

He sighed, and accepted a rag from Bry, and started cleaning the bar, and polishing the glasses.

((~))

It was nearing midnight now, and the ambience of the Shadow was relaxing. Though midnight was usually the time where people were the drunkest, and most rowdy, it was Sunday night, and thus things were quiet except for a few whispered conversations, and the clinking of mugs and silverware.

A loud banging hammered on the door, and Gexsh turned to look through the slit. He fell over grasping his heart as blood poured through his mouth. A few startled occupants began to disparate instantly, and the ones who didn't began to watch the door cautiously.

Harry grasped the Elder Wand from where it lay in his sleeve and levelled it at the door. Bry slammed the doors of the windowsill closed, and magical light softly flashed, wards springing up.

The lights of the bar dimmed, and the banging on the door increased until it was blown off its hinges, and tossed a metre onto the ground. A swarm of red robes burst through the opening, casting indiscriminately towards the occupants.

He sprang to action, his wand sailing through the air. Flicking his wand, several runes swam into view in front of him. The Geriez-Opabal runic alphabet was a curious one and had always interested Harry.

Sweeping his wand over the runes fading into the air, he jabbed his wand forward. A sickly purple shield shimmered into view and blocked many of the spells speeding towards the occupants.

He aimed to paralyze, shooting off a spell, not aiming to kill.

" _Compesce, Statue Glacies!"_ He barked, a beam shot towards a head of long brunette hair, and she flashed snow white, before falling on the ground, completely stiff.

His shield spell crumbled into thin air. A fairy exploded in a shower of gore as several _Reducto's_ slammed into her _._ Marigold finally jumped into the fray, ripping an arm off one of what had to be Aurors.

Holding back no longer, he swung his wand in a sharp downwards spiral and twisting his arm harshly. The wood walls of the bar grew lumbering roots, which grabbed an Auror, and ruthlessly tore him in half.

A red-haired form was weaving through the Aurors and ravaging the occupants of the bar, a fiery dragon weaved around him, blasting through the chests of a tree fae, and Ireleith.

It was Ron. Ron of all people was killing innocents, the Aurors were killing innocents. The fire dragon burst through a pillar, and the fire quickly spread onto the parts of the bar.

Harry slammed the pommel of the Elder Wand onto the wood of the bar, barking out, " _Ut Lapis, Lignum ad Stone! Amino te Pugnate!"_

The wood of the bar congealed into a mass of stone and morphed into a growling boar, which launched itself into the crowd of Aurors. Several of them screamed as it mashed through their arms with stone teeth.

Ron's attention was turned to him, and Harry's frame trembled with anger. A mass of brown hair appeared by Ron's side. It was a showdown, with his damned friends.

"Back down, you dark creature, I may spare you, if you do!" Ron growled, Hermione remained silent. He, Ron and Hermione had joined the Aurors a few years prior and had been one of the most powerful teams out there.

He waved the wand of Elder wood and began conducting a symphony of magic. Hermione's eyes widened at the sight of his wand and then narrowed in fury.

"He has the Elder Wand, Ron, he must know what happened to Harry!" She snarled. Harry paused in his spell work, they were looking for him? He sighed, he couldn't ever return to normal.

He wound his wand over his head, and an unearthly blue shone from his wand tip.

" _Lucius Annaeus Seneca Tecum!"_ He roared.

The forms of Ron and Hermione vanished, as well as the Auror's. He was left alone with the roaring of the flaming tavern. He transfigured his clothes into a thick cloak and disappeared in a swirl of apparition.

((~))

He fell backwards into a large tree and slid to the ground, which was covered with a thick layer of snow. He had apparated to a forest in Canada that he'd been to on a mission.

He sagged tiredly in the snow and stowed his wand away. He missed Ron and Hermione, but for them to come in and kill dozens of innocent people, it struck Harry down to the core. Why had they done it?

He needed time to think about this. Not affected by the cold at all, he lay in a large pile of it and sank deep into a meditative trance. Maybe it'd be best to just _sleep._

((~))

 **AN: Was able to write a quick chapter today. I'll mostly be posting on weekends, though.**

 **Many thanks, thanks for all the support, please share any ideas/opinions you have, Sharing Is Caring! You'll even get cookies! (:~:)**


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